'One pill can kill': New DEA campaign highlights dangers of taking counterfeit pills

It is almost impossible to tell these two pills apart. One is real and the other is fake, containing a deadly dose of fentanyl. This week, the DEA put out a warning that these look-a-likes are becoming more common.

Posted 9:57 p.m. Oct 1, 2021 — Updated 9:57 p.m. Oct 1, 2021

Joe Fisher

, WRAL reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — It is almost impossible to tell these two pills apart.

One is real and the other is fake, containing a deadly dose of fentanyl.

This week, the DEA put out a warning that these look-a-likes are becoming more common.

“One Pill Can Kill.”

This is the new nationwide campaign to raise awareness of counterfeit prescription pills. Hundreds of these pills have been seized by police across our area just in the last 10 days.

“It’s out there,” said Matthew O'Brien, DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge. "Much of the fentanyl that eventually gets pressed into pills comes across the southwest border."

But it doesn’t take long to arrive in North Carolina.

“Southeast Raleigh is a big distribution place," O'Brien said. "But I can tell you unfortunately that the fentanyl and the pills are all throughout in every county.”

Just last week - Raleigh Police seized 55 fentanyl pills — along with cocaine, cash and guns.

In Wilson, officers found hundreds of pills during a traffic stop that also turned up heroin, meth and stacks of cash totaling $13,000. The driver, 23-year-old Cierra Mullen, was charged with possession and trafficking.

The Raleigh field office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has recently warned against a surge in counterfeit prescription pills in North Carolina.

“People are dying. Kids are dying. Families are being devastated, and it’s not stopping. It’s getting worse,” said Wendy Thomas, whose son died of a fentanyl overdose after taking what he thought was a Percocet pill.

Matthew Thomas, 20, was one of three Apex High School graduates to die of fentanyl poisoning in a three-month period in 2020.

“We understand there are thousands that come in but because one pill can kill, if you stop one hundred, if you stop three hundred, well at least those didn’t go on the street,” O'Brien said.

Mathew O’Brien with the D-E-A says just a trace amount, just two milligrams, of fentanyl is enough to kill. The synthetic opioid is often laced in pills sold on the street as Oxycontin, Percocet, Vicodin, Xanax and Adderall.

“If those pills are not prescribed by a real doctor. If they are not given to you or dispensed by a real pharmacist, that pill is likely deadly,” O'Brien said.

The DEA said they're seeing a growing number of drug sales happening on social media. They are urging parents to talk with their children.

Just this week, the new DEA administer said she will soon be asking platforms like Snapchat and TikTok to take specific steps to get drug dealers off their sites.

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